YMCA expresses concern with Ohio concussion bill

Published: April 21, 2012 1:55PM

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- An Ohio bill aimed at protecting athletes with concussions has drawn concern from the Ohio Alliance of YMCAs, as the nonprofit association says it worries hundreds of volunteer coaches and referees would face greater legal liability under the proposal.

The measure would require coaches or officials to remove a player from a game or practice if the athlete shows signs of a concussion or is suspected of having one. School authorities and youth sports organizations would be banned from allowing people to coach unless they were trained to recognize concussions and head injuries.

The legislation also requires a doctor or athletic trainer to clear the athlete to return to play after a concussion.

While the bill contains some immunity provisions for coaches, the head of the Ohio Alliance of YMCAs says they are inadequate.

Beth Tsvetkoff, the association's executive director, recently told an Ohio House health committee that record-keeping on concussions, along with requirements to pull the child if there are signs of a head injury would increase legal liability for volunteers and youth sports organizations.

Tsvetkoff said in an interview that coaches can already be held legally liable if a court finds their actions were done to intentionally injure a youth player.

"We're not trying to change that at all," she said. "We understand that the coaches, the referees, and us as an organization should be responsible for our actions. We agree with that."

But referees and coaches sometimes change from game to game, she says, and they might not know if a child were injured in a previous match.

"It sets up an infrastructure where a volunteer parent who is a coach or a referee in a game is being held responsible for incidents they would have no idea of what happened," she said.

While the association supports concussion training requirements in the bill, Tsvetkoff said lawmakers should eliminate the requirements for yanking a player out of the game.

The Columbus Dispatch reports (http://bit.ly/HVzRJl) that Democratic and Republican lawmakers pushed back in a Wednesday committee hearing against that idea.

"If there is no attaching liability, ultimately, where's the teeth?" said Rep. John Patrick Carney, D-Columbus. "There is no teeth. You could have a coach knowingly send someone back into play who they think has a concussion and ultimately there's no liability on the back end."

The newspaper reports that Rep. Barbara Sears, a Toledo Republican, said state lawmakers have tried to include as much immunity protection as they can in the measure.

"I don't know how I protect everyone from every potential liability," Sears said. "I just think we need to do something."

Sears and Rep. Lynn Wachtmann, R-Napoleon, the House heath committee chairman, said they will continue to work on the bill. Wachtmann has said he hopes to have the bill ready to move in the next few weeks.

Tsvetkoff said her association is working hard on amendments to the measure with lawmakers.

"We think the bill is actually really great," she said. "Hopefully, we can find that middle ground."